A Glow In The Kitchen
by forbesfabulous
Summary: Stydia: Stiles likes the girl with cherry lips' kisses, Derek just wants a perfect apple crumble and Scott eats a lot of pizza.
1. Chapter 1

**a/n -** this one goes out to Sakina because she made me nostalgic with Chair feels and I started writing then this happened— completely unrelated to GG, I know. But it did start out that way! But then a wild Lydia appeared...I don't know. Sorry?

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"Dude!" Scott exclaims, pastry powder smeared all over his mouth. "You can bake!"

And that was the beginning of the worst-maybe-best idea Stiles has ever had. It's complicated.

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It's called 'HALE YES, PASTRIES!' — capital letters and exclamation mark on the legit business title. He likes the pun (the place is owned by the Hale family). Admittedly it may be the only reason he applied.

It's nice. It's kind of small, but it's nice. It sits at the corner of 'that street you have to go through to get to the cinema' and 'the street with all the potholes and that one alright pizza place'. Or, that's what Stiles calls them anyway.

A little bell dings as he walks in. The people in there remind him of the type of people that inhabit that bar in 'True Blood'. Maybe fatter— can he say that? Well, he thought it and that's slightly better. He thinks.

"Bossche bol?" The girl behind the counter asks him. He sits on a stool and raises his eyebrows.

"Uh, sorry, what?"

Her lips are redder than Rudolph's nose and her hair, although in a bun, he sees is red too. He decides he likes it. He feels like she should be wearing roller blades. He watches movies with Scott — and maybe he's seen that one episode of 'Wizards of Waverly Place' like _once_, okay? — that feature that sort of waitress, but he can't see if she is or not. And he's not going to try incase it looks like he's trying to look at her breasts and that's not a brilliant first impression (he's learnt from experience).

She clicks her tongue and purses her cherry lips. "It's like a chocolate ball. Nice. Recipe's from the Netherlands."

"Uh, sure." Goddamit, Stiles! You're meant to be going to a job interview not getting distracted by smart strawberry blonde goddesses (and he prays that that's not one of the things he accidentally says out loud — he accidentally complemented - or she took it as one anyway - one of the female officer intern people at his dad's work the other day and now she won't stop biting her lip and fluttering her eyelashes whenever he's visiting his dad...it's awkward).

She drops the pastry in front of him with a clink of the dainty white plate. His eyes light up as he sees it. It looks like a large Profiterole but creamy and chocolate-y. There's a low giggle that draws him away from staring at the masterpiece. He grins at her before picking up the fork and using the side to cut off a piece. He moans the second he closes his mouth and drags the fork through his lips.

When he opens his eyes she's watching him with her hands cupping her cheeks and her perfect eyebrows raised. "I knew you'd like it." He licks his lips. Her lips twirl up when his tongue ends up spreading the chocolate over his mouth instead of removing it.

"How?" She shrugs, grins. "Come on, tell me!" Her grin widens as she walks over to another customer. He watches her hips swing and wonders what he's gotten himself into. But then doesn't because _OHMYGOD THIS CHOCOLATE IS HEAVEN!_

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"What do you mean you _forgot_ to go to the interview?" Scott blinks uncomprehendingly. "Man, you're like Edward Scissorhands but with better hair and instead of gardening you bake... You understand what I'm trying to say here, right?"

Stiles shakes his head. "No, you lucky muscled dork."

Scott smirks, flexes his muscles. Stiles glares, holds up a knife. Scott holds up his palms in defence.

"Seriously though, you were _in_ the building! How on earth could you forget to keep walking through to the door with 'OFFICE' written over it?"

Stiles pushes up his bottom lip making a puzzled expression. He throws up his hands and shakes his head. "I have no idea." Scott's eyes narrow suspiciously. Stiles curses his voice for squeaking. He decides to distract him with video games.

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It's when he's in GameStop drooling over Dragon Age: Inquisition — because dragons plus video games is literally everything he loves rolled into one, minus sarcasm. Scott says it's rubbish compared to the Assasian's Creed games (actually the reason he's here is because it's Scott's birthday soon). But come on, who doesn't love dragons? — that he suddenly goes blind.

He freezes and throws his hands out in front of him. Someone giggles beside his ear as hands move away from his eyes. He turns around slowly, eyes wide. The beautiful girl from HALE YES, PASTRIES! is standing there smiling at him.

"Wha—are you—_why?_" He dramatically widens his fingers in front of her face. She giggles and gently pushes his hands away.

"Scared you?"

He raises both eyebrows. "Uh—_yuh_!" Her cherry lips form a grin. He finds himself smiling back. He licks his lips and puts his hands in his pockets. "So, uh, what are you doing here?"

"What? A girl can't be in here?" He starts to panic, opening and closing his mouth. Her scowl turns into a grin. He breathes a sigh of relief, feeling his heartbeat slow down. "They sell DVDs too."

"Ah, yes." He clicks his tongue and nods his head. "I see that." He laughs nervously, pointing at a DVD rack before ringing his hands together. God, what is wrong with him? She giggles at him. "You giggle a lot." Why did he say that? "Uh—not that I don't like it! Because I do! It's adorable! I mean—" He cringes and something shocking happens.

Stiles gaps after Cherry Lips' swinging hips. Did she just—_kiss him?!_

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She has soft lips.

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"I made pizza!" Stiles narrows his eyes suspiciously and Scott rolls his eyes but keeps his same cheerful tone. "I paid for the pizza!"

"Okay, well I'm the best friend ever—"

"You're wearing lipstick." Stiles jumps (literally) and gaps at Scott.

"Who the hell is this?!" Stiles flails his hands toward the creepy guy that appeared beside him.

"Derick Ale." Scott stutters through the pizza in his mouth. "Give you 'ob." He nods encouragingly at Stiles. Stiles twitches his eye, his mouth open— basically his 'what the fuck' look.

"Hi." Stiles forces a smile, staring at the guy expressing no emotion. Like, none. _Cweepy_.

"Why are you wearing lipstick?" Stiles tightens his jaw before smiling and shaking his head.

"I'm not—wearing lipstick."

"Then why is the lipstick on your lips?"

Scott suddenly starts choking on his pizza and yelling: "KWISS! KWISS! CHOO GOT KWISSED!"

"I—she confused me."

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So, Stiles ended up sitting on the roof of the apartment block with beer, his best friend and grumpy cat— or Derek Hale, whatever you want to call him.

"Which diner did you meet her at?"

"Oh, uh, can't remember." He shrugs and laughs it off hoping they didn't notice. He wasn't going to say it in front of someone who sees the beauty every day! ...Lucky asshole.

"I don't understand." Grump— Derek says. "You don't know her name or have her number and you can't remember where she works so how are you going to see her again?" He looks to Stiles for an explanation, eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah, but—" Okay, Stiles has no answer for that. He could go to her work but then Derek would know... Why can't Derek know again? Um, well, he doesn't really like Derek.

Okay, Stiles needs some new logic.

And a P.I., maybe.

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He's judging a million shopping bags while Malia and Kira search for the perfect dress for Scott's birthday party (not for Scott, for them...obviously) when he hears _her_ voice.

"No—Al—don't!" And then he's tapped on the shoulder and swinging around to see Cherry Lips looking beautiful in a pink and white floral dress with a bashful expression.

"Hi! I'm Allison!" He looks to the girl that tapped him, obviously Cherry Lips' friend.

"Smial." Oh, yeah, he has a purse strap in his mouth, curtsy of Malia. He opens his mouth and lets it fall to the floor with a sheepish smile. "Stiles."

"Oh?" Allison raises both eyebrows, turning to Cherry Lips. "Isn't that a nice name, Lydia?" Lydia. Lydia Stilinski. Uh—what?

Lydia forces a smile, glaring at Allison. Stiles lets out an 'oof' when a bag is thrown at his head.

"COME ON, STILINSKI! NEXT STOP SHOES!" Stiles attempts to pick up the bag with his pinkie finger. Allison nudges Lydia and she bends down to help him. Their fingers brush as she pushes the bag into his reach. She smiles at him and he smiles back. As they straighten up Lydia picks up the purse Stiles had dropped.

"So, Stiles." Allison says as Lydia tries to find somewhere to put the purse as Stiles literally has no free limb. Malia and Kira turn really aggressive when it comes to shopping, because _they_ are the ones that are stressed apparently. "Was that your girlfriend?" Lydia almost drops the bag as she gapes at her friend.

"Uh, I don't think so." Stiles laughs nervously. He's not sure about Malia himself. Some days he thinks she likes him and then other days he thinks she might like Isaac. It's quite confusing. "I mean, no. Not really. Uh—" He clicks his tongue. Jokes, Stiles. You're good at jokes, remember? "I'm scared she'll beat me up if the answer doesn't suit her." Allison and Cherry—_Lydia_ giggle.

"STILINSKI!"

"Well, uh, bye." He lets out a little laugh and begins to slowly walk away (due to both him wanting her to stop him and the heaviness of these goddamn bags). He sighs as he makes it out of the shop and walks toward the sound of what he thinks is Malia's voice and Kira's laughter.

"Wait! Stiles—wait!" She skids to a halt beside him and he looks at her expectantly. "I—" She licks her licks and stares at him for a seconds. "Um." He grins, amused. "I found an application at work!" She blurts out and he raises both eyebrows. "It had you on it." She smiles sheepishly and he opens his mouth.

"Oh. Uh, yeah. I _was_ going to interview, I just—" He trails off. She smiles at him mock innocently.

"Were you _distracted_?"

"Uh—I—Grumpy Cat!" Lydia raises both eyebrows, clearly amused.

"Um, Derek offered me a job."

Lydia begins to laugh hysterically. "Did you just refer to Derek as Grumpy Cat?"

Stiles blushes. "Maaaaybe. Though he's more like a dog waiting to snap at you when you're least expecting. Seriously, does that guy ever smile?"

Malia and Kira start calling for Stiles. "Uh, I guess I'd better go."

"And I guess I'll see you Monday."

A smiles slowly makes it's way onto Stiles' lips as he nods his head in realisation. "Yeah, I guess you will."

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	2. Chapter 2

**a/n -** basically the last chapter but Lydia's story. I'm not going to be doing this throughout the rest of the story btw. repeating events, I mean.

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"Lyds!" Allison cheers, untying her apron. "You're the best! I owe you one!"

Lydia sighs and catches the apron her best friend tosses at her as she runs out of the bakery. She doesn't sigh because she's unhappy about taking Allison's shift— of course she wants to help! But it just feels like she's always the one that helps. Always the one that people fall back on. The back up.

Don't get her wrong, she loves being needed! It's just the amount of time she spends on other people— She wants to do something for herself, instead. She wants something exciting, something unusual, something— something that can just be _hers_.

That's when she sees him.

His t-shirt says 'wanted dead and alive' with a picture of Schrödinger's cat. She can't hold back the little giggle that escapes her. Which is completely odd because she _never_ giggles! She's not some hormone crazed teenager (well, technically— okay, she _thought_ she wasn't and she doesn't particularly want to be one anyway)!

He looks around and she mentally takes a picture of the look of awe on his face. He looks so—so—_purposeful_.

Maybe he could teach her.

She grins and leans against the counter in front of him. "Bossche bol?"

"Uh, sorry, what?" God, his eyes are so beautifully brown.

She purses her lips to hide a smile. "It's like a chocolate ball. Nice. Recipe's from the Netherlands." Which she knows because Creepy Hale expects them to know everything about everything— he quizzes them at the end of the week. _Every_ week. She's always found it easy to remember facts though, so she does well. Though she does get some wrong on purpose after he patted her on the head once. She'd rather not relive that.

"Uh, sure." She nods and trots off to get one. Plate. Folded napkin. Chocolate ball. Extra powder. That's literally her job. Except she gets to talk to people, and she likes that. She likes finding out about other people's lives. It's interesting to compare hers with theirs. Some people have really experienced life. Properly. She wants—_hopes_ to do that. It's not just traveling either, though she would love to get away— just from the familiar, she wants to get out of her comfort zone but she fears she has gotten _too_ comfortable. She just— She just wants a story worthy life. One that other waitresses would be jealous of.

She carefully drops the plate onto the counter and another accidental giggle escapes her when his mouth literally falls open. He looks up to her and grins before eagerly grabbing his fork. She rests her face lazily in her hands and smiles as he moans out loud.

"I knew you'd like it." She tries to play the mysterious card. She worries she mightn't even have it in her deck though. She manages to stop another giggle escaping when he licks his lips and chocolate is adorably (in an oddly not gross way) spread over his lips.

"How?" She decides to shrug. "Come on, tell me!" She grins, and wonders if it's bad that this may be the most exciting encounter of her week. She swings around, making the sudden decision to walk away and leave him 'hanging'. Wow, she feels exhilarated! Okay, she desperately needs more excitement in her life.

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"You're releasing too quickly!" Allison dictates, tapping her hands against the little blue cooler she's sitting on.

"You said release after one second!"

"No, I said give yourself one second _then_ you release." Allison says calmly, smiling at her frustrated best friend. "You're never going to get it if you give up now!"

Lydia rolls her eyes and lowers the bow to the ground. "Because everyone needs supreme archery skills to succeed in life!" She grabs another arrow. "You sound like your father."

"You say it like it's a bad thing." Allison grins teasingly and Lydia smiles before raising the bow again.

Lydia takes a deep breath, pulls the arrow back gently until her fingers brush her mouth, curses when the arrow slips out of its place.

"You forgot to tilt it!" Allison laughs. Lydia dramatically throws her arms out and falls back onto the leafy floor with a sigh. That's archery off of her 'New Things That Will Make Her Life Liveable' list, then.

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It's her turn to pick a DVD for movie night. She's never been a fan of thrillers or horrors but it's on her list (that she wrote out on literal paper last night) so she ventures into a store that has zombie posters in the windows— and there _he_ is. The cute chocolate covered customer.

She bites her lip then grins and creeps up behind him. She lifts up her arms and places her hands over his eyes. She giggles (a-freaking-gain— maybe she's diseased?) as his body tenses and his hands flap around. She removes her hands and he turns around. She smiles, amused at his shocked facial expression.

"Wha—are you—" Mad? Probably. "_Why?_" She giggles (intentionally for once) at his dramatic facial expression and hand gesture and pushes his hands down gently.

Alright, time to be aloof. Mysterious. Flirt like Allison taught you— not that she wanted to flirt with him! Did she? Maybe she did. "Scared you?"

He raises both eyebrows. "Uh—_yuh_!" She smiles at him. He's cute, and has another funny t-shirt on (it's a couple of 'Fe' symbols in the shape of a man— get it? _Iron_. _Man_.). "So, uh, what are you doing here?"

She raises her eyebrows challengingly. "What? A girl can't be in here?" She sees a flash of panic in his eyes and grins. "They sell DVD's too." She shrugs.

"Ah, yes." He nods. "I see that." He dorkily points at the DVD rack and then cringes at himself. She opens her mouth and a giggle comes out. Come on, brain! You are not an eight year old with a silly little crush! "You giggle a lot." She freezes. Oh lord, he doesn't think she's a brainless bimbo, does he? "Uh—not that I don't like it! Because I do!" Okay, what would Allison do? He's a cute boy and he just said he liked her, didn't he? Oh, screw it! She's trying to be exciting, right? "It's adorable! I mean—" She cups his cheeks and leans forward until their lips are touching. Then, she runs away.

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She forgot the DVD, but his lips were really soft.

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"Do you think I'm boring?" She peaks up at her best friend, her hand still pealing the frail brown holder around her coffee cup. Allison is visually stunned by her question.

"Uh— what? Lydia! You're not—_why_ would you think—what's happened?"

Lydia sighs and places her coffee cup and little brown pieces she had ripped off on the table. To clarify, they're sitting in Lydia's back garden after getting some coffee and cookies (the perfection combination) from the quaint little shop at the bottom of the street. It's their 'thing', if they have one.

"I mean, not me _per se _but my _life_. I feel like I'm not doing anything. I mean, high school is just behind us and I'm not—"

"President?" Lydia tilts her head and narrows her eyes. Allison smiles at her. "Lyds, you're an underpaid overworked collage student of _course_ you're not going to be working on the cure for cancer on your days off!"

"I know, I just don't do anything exciting!" Lydia blushes as she thinks of earlier that day. "Much."

Allison's eyes light up and she leans forward with an excited grin. "Tell!"

"Tell what?" Lydia mutters, trying to look innocent.

"The dirty little secret you're hiding!"

Lydia rolls her eyes. "It's not _dirty_!"

"But there is a secret?" Allison claps her hands together. "What did you do?"

"I might have kissedthisreallyreallycuteboy." Lydia clears her throat.

Allison raises both eyebrows. "What was that?"

Lydia sighs. "I kissed this really really cute boy!"

Allison grins at her. "What's really really cute boy's name?"

Lydia blinks. "I don't—know."

"Well, did you get his number?"

"No." Lydia whispers. Does this mean she doesn't get to see the cute chocolate covered customer again? Allison groans and Lydia's got her answer.

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Hope is not lost though. She's shredding the "no way in hale" (yes, Creepy Hale actually said that!) applications when she spots Cute Customer's face on the paper. What does she do now?

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"You have to call him!"

"No, Allison! No way!"

"But I thought you liked him?"

"That's why I can't call him!"

Honestly, is she the only intelligent one around here?

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Lydia is admiring a beautiful blue dress with red on the shoulder area when she sees him. Maybe she should go say hello? Oh, is he— he's with _those_ girls? She whips around and tries to hide behind the rack of clothing. She glances up to see Allison grinning.

"Is that him him?" Allison doesn't wait for an answer and strides off in his direction.

Lydia mutters angrily under her breath before jumping up after her friend. "No—Al—don't!"

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But it ends up okay. She's going to be seeing a lot of him, actually. Maybe being a bakery waitress _can_ be exciting.

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End file.
